The present invention is generally in the field of packaging and in particular in the area of flexible packaging for objects with square or rectangular sides (rectilinear parallelepipeds).
There are a number of items which are packaged in multiple units for shipping and distribution for retail sale. Examples of such items include cartons of cigarettes, bottles of wine or alcohol in gift cartons, feminine hygiene needs, medical supplies, film, foodstuffs, candies and chocolates, and auto supplies. Up until the present time, these items have been packaged in either a cardboard carton, paper bag or in a flexible carrier which had to be heat sealed using a relatively complicated packaging operation with specially designed or installed equipment. These methods of packaging suffer from a number of disadvantages including (i) weight of the cartons, (ii) need for preassembly of the containers and then storage until loading, (iii) either specially designed and installed packaging equipment or several manual steps for sealing the carton, and (iv) a lack of a convenient way to handle the package when loaded, which does not interfere with storage. Paper bags such as those commonly used in grocery stores are light weight and easily stored, but they are closed only at the bottom. In addition, although the bottom forms a rectangular area when fully extended, it requires cutting, folding and pasting to form multiple layers.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a flexible package that holds and closely conforms to one or more rectangular or square sided objects.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a transparent, flexible package which can be used as a marketing tool and enhance customer perception of the contained goods.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a rapidly manufactured, economical, lightweight, and easy to store container.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a container with the foregoing advantages that also has handles which can be assembled as a part of the package, without addititonal processing steps or only minor modifications of the manufacturing process.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a flexible package which may be sealed on location after loading in a single, easy step.